COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
AIC_.1978.308
AMICA Library Year:
1998
Object Type:
Sculpture
Creator Nationality:
European; Southern European; Roman
Creator Role:
Artist
Creator Role:
Copyist
Creator Dates/Places:
Italy, Europe
Creator Name-CRT:
Roman
Creator Name:
Lysippos
Creator Dates/Places:
Greek; fl. c.390-after 310 B.C. Early Western World,Ancient Mediterranean,Ancient
Creator Name-CRT:
After Lysippos
Title:
Statuette of Hercules
Title Type:
preferred
View:
3/4 view
Creation Date:
Imperial Period, 2nd century A.D.
Creation Start Date:
100
Creation End Date:
200
Materials and Techniques:
Bronze, lost-wax cast
Style or Period:
Aegean
Subject Description:
The hero is shown resting from his Twelve Labors while holding the three golden apples of the Hesperides against his lower back with his right hand. With his left hand he grasps a club (now missing) for support. The skin of the Nemean lion is often shownwrapped around this arm or hanging from the club. The most famous version of this statue was probably made by Lysippos for the Gymnasium of his native city of Sikyon, along the Gulf of Corinth, on the northern coast of the Peloponnesus. This small bronzeshows a wreath of vine leaves and fruit (grapes?) around the forehead, suggesting the pleasures of the banquet that await the hero on completion of his labors. This may be a Roman Imperial addition to the hero's attributes. On sarcophagi and in mosaics of the decades from A.D. 150 to 230, the drinking contest between Dionysos (the Roman Bacchus, god of wine) and Herakles was a popular theme, for it pitted experience and toleration against rashness and force. The weary Herakles always succumbed in these encounters and had to stagger off to bed with the aid of Dionysos's followers, the satyrs and maenads.
Creation Place:
Early Western World, Roman Republic and Empire
Dimensions:
H.: 22 cm (8-11/16 in.); W.: 11.4 cm (4-1/2 in.)
AMICA Contributor:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Owner Location:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
ID Number:
1978.308
Credit Line:
The Art Institute of Chicago, Katharine K. Adler Endowment
Context:
Roman copy of the fourth-century B.C. Greek original by Lysippos. During the second and first centuries B.C. the Romans conquered the cities and kingdoms that made up the Greek world; however, they promptly turned to Greece for much of their artistic inspiration. Educated Romans spoke Greek, studied with Greek scholars in Athens and Ionia, and copied Greek styles in writing, speaking, architecture, painting, and sculpture. They removed original art from the Greek world to decorate their private and public buildings, and when demand outstripped supply, they commissioned copies of Greek originals. Sculptures with mythological references were sought because they bespoke educated and cultured Roman patrons who placed sculpture in their gardens, baths, andliving rooms according to the meanings they wanted to convey.
Related Image Identifier Link:
AIC_.E28777.TIF
